Reggie Fils-Aime: Petitions Don't Affect Nintendo's Decisions

Movements like Operation Rainfall demonstrate a community’s interest in seeing certain games or features become accessible; in Operation Rainfall’s case, advocates eventually saw their wishes granted by Nintendo, but was that a direct result of their efforts? According to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, not really.

Fils-Aime recently had a chat with Siliconera to discuss several topics, among which were petition initiatives like Operation Rainfall and Operation Moonfall (an effort to see The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask remade on the 3DS). Fils-Aime noted that these and other fan-led charges have been acknowledged, but are not the driving factors in the company’s decision-making process:

I have to tell you—it doesn’t affect what we do. We certainly look at it, and we’re certainly aware of it, but it doesn’t necessarily affect what we do.

Fils-Aime cited the decision to localize Operation Rainfall’s figurehead, Xenoblade Chronicles, as an example of all the financial and resource factors that took precedence in making the final call:

I wanted to bring Xenoblade here. The deal was, how much of a localization effort is it? How many units are we going to sell, are we going to make money? We were literally having this debate while Operation Rainfall was happening, and we were aware that there was interest for the game, but we had to make sure that it was a strong financial proposition.

I’m paid to make sure that we’re driving the business forward—so we’re aware of what’s happening, but in the end we’ve got to do what’s best for the company. The thing we know [about petitions] is that 100,000 signatures doesn’t mean 100,000 sales.

Fils-Aime's words don’t seem to come off as an admonishment toward those who make their interests known in the forms of campaigns and petitions. Nintendo does pay attention to them, as all those Miiverse calls for EarthBound on Virtual Console can attest. In the end, though, it seems choices will likely never be made through the force of fan will alone.

Do Fils-Aime’s comments on Operation Rainfall and other petitions change your opinion on such efforts? Let us know below.

From the web

As a child, Tim once spent an entire month staring longingly at a copy of Kirby's Dream Land his parents had kept atop the refrigerator until he could play it on an upcoming road trip. That month would change his life forever.

That's what I've been saying all along. Operation Rainfall succeeded because of cold, hard cash. The organizers of that movement put their money where their mouth was, BEFORE the localization was even confirmed.

Signing an online petition. Liking a cancer awareness post on Facebook. It gives us a dose of that sweet, sweet seratonin, but it's ultimate useless.

what i dont understand is why people want majoras mask remade in 3d and not HD (or both) i understand more people own a 3ds but lets face it majoras mask was an incredible game that hasnt been thought about much in terms of re releases i think the game deserves a full HD over haul (or both) i know easier said than done but i prefer hd to 3d

That certainly explains why the North American release of Xenoblade Chronicles seemed like a lazy port of the European localisation, and the fact Nintendo of America only printed a relatively limited amount of copies for the game, which consequently caused the game to be so rare to acquire nowadays, even online. In a relatively short amount of time too!

I knew that all along that's why those threads that pop up every so often bug me and why sites like change.org should be shut down. Companies do what is good for their money, it doesn't matter how many fans scream that they want X game to come in the end if it's not profitable a company is not going to do it.

This is kind of just PR spin from Reggie. They obviously paid attention to Operation Rainfall, and to claim otherwise is ridiculous — it went from Nintendo saying Xenoblade wouldn't sell in North America, to the game selling better in N.A. than any other region. As the article adds, Iwata himself said they re-released Earthbound due to fan pressure.

On the other hand, the majority of petitions are so meaningless, and it does the fans no good to be under the impression that they should make meaningless petitions one after the other, so I understand the reason for his comments.

He has a point. Seeing how petitions are pretty much overused these days, you cant bank on them. Look no further than THQ if you want to no what could happen to a company that didnt measure costs against demand.Getting a general feel for the demand from petitions is good, but you cant count on them. This is a situation, in which i could understand something like a kickstarter / pre-order system. You want it localized ? Lets see how many of your are willing to put in 5$ in advance (gets reduced from price later) into the game. If its enough (localization costs against willing buyers) the game will be localized and you basicly pre ordered it now. If not, you get four 5$ back and the game stays where it is. Most people nowadays sign a petition without thinking about it. Its promoted as "just one click, takes no time at all" and thats exactly how people are doing it: browse petition sites, clickin on everything they could benefit from without thinking about it. As a result, the number of signatures arteficially increases making the whole result unrelyable. And people who really mean it would gladly spend money in advance to ensure a localization.

He has a point, although i do think movements like Operation Rainfall do give companies a little nudge to act. Whether its enough remains to be seen. Operation Rainfall, obviously, was successful. But how about Operation Moonfall? 100,000 Strong for Mega Man Legends 3? Or Starman.net for EarthBound? Success with this is a wide spectrum. From yes, to eventually, to maybe, to no. All movements like this are worthwhile for a worthy cause, even if they fall on deaf ears in the end. It at least lets companies know what kinds of games they want.

The way they handled Xenoblade was just shameful. This was a masterpiece that they not only should have localized immediately, but aggressively promoted, not treated like some cult game to give GameStop a monopoly on. Hopefully the great reception Xenoblade got worldwide will ensure that Monolith Softs X gets treated right. At least so far they've been giving X a fair bit of attention in their Nintendo Directs.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Nintendo has no reason to believe a game will sell just because a few thousand people said they want it once on the internet. I was kinda worried Reggie was gonna actively deny that fans do anything because that would be a BAD BAD BAD STUPID BAD idea to say, especially from Nintendo, especially right now. Presumably the more notable efforts give them a reason to take a 2nd look at possible successes but it would be dumb to ever assume internet popularity reflects anything, that is often a bad risk to take. And quite frankly, Operation Rainfall was a very much right time right place sort of thing in the first place, most petitions and the like do not even begin to matter as much as that.

That being said, I still think anyone who denies that Nintendo going against their usual business practices (See: Sin and Punishment 2's sales disaster) to focus on super cheap, Gamestop only localization/using the help of XSEED, all of which were publicly and to these companies suggested as a way to localize these games for cheap...seriously to imply OPRainfall had nothing to do with it is just lying. Period. It's just that they were smart enough to find a way to apparently prove that the game they want would actually make money.

@skapunx I would prefer HD / 60fps for both OT and MM don't expect it to happen for a very long time though if ever. Too much effort when they can upscale Twilight Princess in about ten mins and still sell it for the same price.

I think it works. I also think whoever decided not to localize Xenoblade and The last story on a system that had no decent games being released when it had a massive install base should be out of a job. It was really dumb

I didn't sign any petition but I bought Xenoblade directly from Nintendo of America's online store. I wasn't able to buy the other two games because my Wii's disc drive died before they were released. Playing so many hours of Xenoblade probably killed it.

@countwavula i have no issues with this year bought my wii u at launch up to 26 retail games and 6 VC/Eshop games but i know we'll never get it and it makes me sad Star tropics is INCREDIBLE ... zodas revenge eh

@unrandomsam i know but i can only hope and twilight princess i still think is to new and still looks good MM could use the HD treatment my second favorite zelda game of all time is just being left out in the cold but im hapy either way because i know a new zeldas on the way and i still have MM along with every other zelda game ever made and a way to play em so in the end its not like i lost the game forever

So in otherwords, "We'll do it if it makes sense, and your feedback is appreciated".

@Tasuki pretty much summed up how I've always felt about petitions and such. You're wasting your time more times than not with this stuff.I don't know who would think this matters more than it really does.

Makes sense to me. It's a business in the end and if you believe in a niche game or company, vote with your wallet, buy it new and if possible, don't wait for a massive discount. That's the only petition that matters. For the record, I bought Xenoblade and Last Story USA straight away, but ended up getting the Euro version of Pandora's Tower as I didn't think it was going to make it over.

I've always said this. Petitions, online petitions especially, mean nothing. It takes all of two seconds to put your name to something, and it doesn't matter how many people do that, it won't translate to sales.

Despite the fact that almost everyone uses the internet these days, sites and forums like this still make up a tiny minority of game buyers. Look at the amount of games that are favourites of forum users and then have poor sales. Xenoblade is a good example. I'm not saying it's sales sucked, but if you polled everyone on Nintendo Life, I'm sure it would be in the top 5 favourite games on Wii, but where was it in the sales? Outside the top 75 I'm almost sure. Wonderful 101 was a more recent example, hyped and praised as a big release, and makes no sales impact at all. We are the minority.

Provide a way for us to put our money where our mouth is i would say. Give me something like kickstarter for Bayonetta 1 or Monster Hunter 4, il put the money down this second as a show I intend to purchase it. If enough is not generated then it simply doesnt happen and we get our money back, if it does then the mulah becomes non refundable pre orders and you simply get the game when it is ready.

It sure hasn't made them make an account system for the eShop and stop tying purchases to consoles as DRM.

It sure hasn't made them start giving after market support for their games.

All research points against region locking not doing anything but pissing off customers but that hasn't stopped Nintendo even though every other console has dropped it, they've stepped up their game.

It hasn't made them not intentionally make communication difficult in their games to protect "the children" at the cost of screwing over all their older fans, the parental controls are apparently meaningless as a way to let older people do what they want but have parents be responsible and use the parental controls to block certain features if they so wish.

We are talking about Nintendo who removed messaging services THAT REQUIRED FRIEND CODES because some people were sending "inappropriate messages".

I do agree with Reggie's points on petitions, but they're definitely not pointless.While petitions won't make anything happen for sure, projects like OPR make Nintendo consider it. It raises attention to games that are theoretically in high demand, so of course responsible companies take a look at the possibilities. If Rainfall didn't happen, Nintendo might not have considered Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower and Last Story for localization at all.Unfortunately, there's a petition for everything nowadays, and as other already noted, the simplicity of signing them extremely lessens the impact of it, especially when there are many ways to autogenerate signings with scripts and/or fakemails.

@unrandomsam naaaa They are still selling Twilight. I could totally see Majoras Mask. In fact I expect it. I would love to see an updated 4 swords hd or have phantom hourglass and spirit tracks given the windwaker treatment and thrown on one disk together but that will never happen.

@Peach64 Petitions, or "clicktivism" is meaningless, just pressing a button doesn't take much work so it doesn't mean much to most who press it.Hardcore gamers who read gaming news daily online are a vocal minority, and any gaming company would be crazy to listen to just them.

@sinalefa I didn't even really know about Operation Rainfall until the games were confirmed to come to the US. Out of the three, I only have Xenoblade Chronicles and the Last Story. Pandora's Tower is on my list, but at the moment, I don't have the cash.

This might sound extremely insane, but what if Nintendo let us pay for a game before it even begins development?

Take a 3DS (or even Wii U) remake of Majora's Mask for example. Nintendo announces it, gives us the option of putting money down so they know exactly how many people are committed to buying it, as opposed to "saying they'd buy it", which is not a guarantee. Sort of like a combination of pre-ordering & crowdfunding.

really?... do they put that much thought into weather or not they should release Barbie pony fashion bakery party? is it that hard to release a cool game?... that big of a risk?... just release it... limited if it sells out.. release some more.

@kodeen it took them 6 months to do wind waker hd...... i understand majoras mask is older which probably leads to more work but its one system behind the GC (and not by much) i highly doubt it would take that much longer also to my knowledge its not like wind waker sold THAT much more MM was 3.6 million and WW was 4.6 compared to OOT which sold around 7 million units if you think the way your thinking then the only game (in terms of sales) worth redoing is Ocarina of time and the original legend of zelda and twilight princess

@Peach64Xenoblade sold most of it's copies, though. There were 500,000 total. There probably is only a few hundred new lying around somewhere.

The game that didn't that well was Pandora's Tower, I think. Even Xseed said that The Last Story did well only selling a few 100,000 copies. That's because there was a small stock for the OpRainfal to begin with.

Sad but true! But still: Keep making petitions/let your voice be heard! Sometimes it helps! Thanks to miiverse we western people have Earthbound on the vc! I have yet to download it, but I plan to do that soon!

I bought xenoblade and last story but Pandoras tower was horrible. Didnt waste the cash on it. I rented it from my local library. finished two towers and said to hell with it. Im not above over grinding or tons of side quests. I 100% completed xenoblade in under 102hrs. But pandoras tower was way too repetitious. Being confined to that tower basically the entire game ruined it.

I sent Nintendo a thank you email when they released Earthbound (and also took the time to request bringing over Mother 3) and they replied to the actual email. Not a generic response, but an actual response. It was short and sweet - nothing special - but I got the feeling that they truly do appreciate their fans and our wishes.

@subie98 i hear that i did like last story as well but something about pandoras tower made me not wana touch it i dont really know why.

as to the region lock comments i really dont think its that big a deal unless your mad about games only coming out in japan which makes sense but in all honesty is anyone going to spend extra money to import a game to play it a month early in a language they most likely cant read? it just doesnt seem worth it to me. i can understand people want to import games like MH4 or some obscure JRPG that wouldnt make it here any way but if you think about it whats the point you most likely cant understand it so your spending extra money to get less enjoyment from the game

@subie98 touche i do agree with you but i still think theres a reason behind the region locking whether fans like it or not in the end its really not a big deal because then if they end up localizing it and people imported it than most people wont buy it .... and then they think theres not a huge desire for the game and then were screwed over again so i just am grateful for what i get and so far am very happy with that alot (not all) of gamers these days think they are entitled to whater ever they want when in the end they should be happy with what they are given instead of finding reasons to moan and bi*** sorry for the rant lol

Oh, screw you Reggie. To me, this is such a middle finger. I mean, What does this say to fans? To me, it says "Oh, you guys have no say in what we should do." Now, to be fair, I'm not saying listen to every single thing fans say. Because some fans can be a bit mindless at times... But saying these (Very correct) fan petitions have no real affect on Nintendo's decisions, I mean... what does that say to the people running and signing these petitions? It just seems like there is no hope for Operation Moonfall/Zero/etc. And the part that irks me the most is this is a very Capcom thing to say. It's like, what do you gain by saying something like this? Now, again to be fair, I understand his point of view. 100,000 signatures doesn't mean 100,000 sales. And at the end of the day, a company needs to make a profit in order to stay alive. But the ironic part of that statement, is there are times you localize games that are crap. Like Pokemon Rumble Blast that I'm sure didn't give you the numbers you wanted. And then there are games that will likely make a profit like Xenoblade and a Majora's Mask remake. Again, I know I'm kicking a dead horse, but this statement doesnt gain him anything. If anything, it just hurts his credibility even more. 'Sigh'

Ok, I kinda blitz through writing this, so if there are any errors than I'm sorry, and sorry about the swears though I do feel it was necessary.

(Disclaimer: I don't hate Pokemon Ok? I'm currently playing the Hades out of Pokemon Y and I feel it's the greatest Pokemon game since the GB/GBC era, It's that Loveydoveying good! And I've all but finished White 2.)

@ColdingLight i like your disclaimer at the end, you probably saved your self for the pokemon comment dont get me wrong i love pokemon but the amount of times ive been crucified for saying a negative thing about pokemon is astounding (not on here pretty much just started posting today) but on other forums and or IRL lol

@Doma He was talking about games. My response was to asking for firmware changes to which they should already have a team dedicated. I know that doesn't sound very different, but trust me that it is quite different.

Nintendo seems out of touch with the Americas. Surely they have to realize by now that North Americain kids are consuming anime series through such streaming services like Netflix. They have this huge catalog of Japan-only games that could be making them a tonne of money. My eldest daughter is really into music (plays drums, piano, guitar, vocals), just a few days ago she showed me a bunch of youtube videos with Hatsune Miku, this was a big thing at her school. I was amazed to find out that there's a Hatsune Miku 3DS game released in Japan only. If there wasn't this region locking I would have bought that game in a heartbeat. Instead I ended up dropping $150.00 on the actual Miku vocaloid software (English V3). That made her day.

I remember the last years of the Wii, and how bored i was with it: for two years if not three, all we had was Skyward Sword, then these Rainfall games, and then... nothing at all... and then a terrible first year for the Wii U too... and lets' not forget about the start of the 3DS...

When i compare this to the PS3 in 2012, 2013 and even still further in 2014, it really puts a shame on the multi-billion profits corporation i used to love so much...

So OK, that kind of game (Xenoblade) won't be a multi-million seller, but releasing it is called FAN SERVICE, and RESPECT for your customers who don't care about the "casual experiences" which sell far better and way, way, way easier... you know, that type of customer who were happy to learn that Monolith was part of the Nintendo's family: why buy Monolith if you don't want to release their f*** ing efforts ???

And because of that terrible Wii's end of life, and that terrible 3DS start, and Nintendo's general attitude towards more "core" oriented games, made by them or not, this is why someone who plays since the Game & Watch days, bought nearly all Nintendo's consoles day one or in their first year as long as he may remember, isn't going to buy a Wii U for some time soon, if ever... because gamers care, and gamers remember...

You want your "numbers" for your Wii U, Reggie? Go ask the casuals, then, cos' i'm sick of that attitude: Nintendo made billions and billions of cash in only 5 years, so you have the financial shoulders to support some 1st quality games to expand your catalog, and thus your userbase... want to stay close to your precious dollars? Well, you have the right to do so, just as i have the right to not contribute anymore...

Yeah... Surrrrrrre Reggie. Just like you don't use so-called "social media" to sell games, right? Petitions & fan movements are free hype for future games & we all know Nintendo (& every other business) loves free marketing. Can't tell me Xenoblade Chronicles would've sold anywhere near as much as it did sell in North America (it sold the most there out of any region btw) if it hadn't have had the massive fan campaign before hand. Which at the very least spread word about the awesomeness that is Xenoblade Chronicles & hence brought a so-called "niche" game to the attention of those who wouldn't have known anything about it, especially with the minor marketing push Nintendo gave the game. Peace!

Can someone explain why it's so hard to sell worldwide a japanese game once translated in English? For example, we already know that SMT IV won't be translated in French, German, Italian etc., so why don't they put the USA version on the european Eshop?

Well, there goes my cunning plan to make Nintendo release Kirby's Dream Collection in Europe by sending them 1,000,000 forged signatures, many of them mentioning celebrities, living and deceased.
Time for plan B: camping in front of NoE's headquarters dressed as the pink puffball. Only time will tell if I succeed or not.

I got all 3 games as well as the other five (Tales of Graces, Fatal Frame 4, Takt of Magic, Earth Seeker, and Zangeki no Reginleiv) games which were never brought to the NA. Of course, I already played TOG F but doesn't like that one compare to the original.

Truth is most people don't know or care about localization. This is a very small segment of Nintendo owners. They are going to appeal to the masses first and foremost and most of them don't know how to click a petition.

people are over reacting. His words are taken way out of context. His words are not in anyway saying "we don't listen to fans". Yet that's how people are reacting. He is talking like a businessman. A better way put would have been to say " We can't use fan feedback for our final business decisions". No company should. The only thing a petition says is that fans want it. The final decision is made based on; can we do it? How much does it cost; how long will it take? Etc. Reggie (and everyone in the gaming industry) should just stop talking to gaming sites if people don't know how to remain professional.

Reggie does have a point: not all who signs into a petition will necessarly shell out the money to buy the game when it comes out. Operation Rainfall wasn't just a petition, it was a complete carpet bombing with people putting their money where their mouth is, because there was geniune interest on these games.

Petition signatures don't necessarily translation into sales, but it is still a good and possibly one of the few ways gamers can voice their opinions back to the company in a way that is not easily ignored.

of course nintendo does not listen to its customers and the sales are proof. n64 and cartridges, gamecube and its mini disc. anyone remember how they forbid anyone who made a nes game to make a games for another system. but it is fine, they do not have to listen and we can always mod our systems to play whatever we want

You mean Nintendo doesn't listen to their fans??? How's that improved Virtual console selection, along with game cube games and N64 games coming along. How's the unified account coming along? How's the new Star Fox/Metroid/F-Zero games we're all shouting for coming along? Oh right, Nintendo doesn't listen to their fans, I already forgot.

Nintendo could do kickstarters on bringing more obscure titles over to this side of the atlantic. Then people who vote yes need to actually put their money where their mouths are to begin with. Problem solved.

So glad he said that. I know that's how they operate but it's good to let others know it too.

I see petitions for almost every little thing, half of them morally wrong or plan dumb yet they get thousands of "supporters" at a click of a button. It's just as bad as boycott in the sense you try to gain support for numbers, even if it's from people who don't care about the cause.

I much prefer the money in mouth motto. At least it shows commitment to the product and ideas rather then a empty gesture.

Hopefully comments like this will silence at least a few of the neverending supply of trolls who won't let Mother 3 go. Just because you can get thousands of signatures doesn't mean you'll get that in sales.

I do think that petitions on this large scale are paid a LOT of attention by Nintendo, despite what Reggie says. While we did eventually get the Operation Rainfall games, I believe Nintendo of America made a huge mistake waiting so long to bring them over. 2011 was a wasteland on Wii while everyone was waiting for Skyward Sword to hit. These games could have kept us busy and proved that the Wii was still a living and viable system. Reggie is a marketing guy, so he should know that perception is key, and those games came here simply too late.

He certainly has a point, and looking at some of the petitions that have popped up who could blame them. How can you take them seriously when you even have people making petitions to not port games to other platforms? It just makes the few good ones out there look bad. That and they don't want people flooding their inbox with them either.

On the other hand they could handle smaller releases and maybe even make something out of them if they put their mind to it. Look at MH3, that franchise was and still is pretty niche outside Japan, and they really pushed for it. Now they've got the 4th installment and the franchise is doing better than ever.

@AltDotNerd Do you realize that it can take years to develop a good game? You really want to pay to pre-order something that MAY come out the end of next year or the beginning of the next. And keyword, MAY! And if the project is scrapped halfway through, do you get your money back? No, and you shouldn't. That money went to the development process which cost lots of money. Good developers, graphic artists, musicians, etc. don't come cheap and they won't want to get paid only if the game releases.

I do think games like Xenoblade, Last Story and Pandora's Tower were experiments. Each was released in Japan +/- 2 years before it came to the US and still months to a year after their European release, in English. Pandora's Tower didn't come to the US just a few days after a year being in Europe and Australia in English. There might be some weight behind the petition theory, but I think Nintendo/Monolith wanted to see how it would sell on the Wii. Lo and behold, a new Xenoblade will be released for the Wii-U in the US. Xenoblade Chronicles might even appear as a digital download. I don't think it was only the petition or the retail sales but the fact that people were selling and BUYING XC on ebay for over $100. It has settled to around $50 but even $50 for a used game means the demand is there. As far as the other two, maybe just a test to see how well JRPG will do in the US.

I call BS on this. NOA never said they were "working on it" or "considering it" when directly asked if the Operation Rainfall trio was coming to the Americas. They said "no". Just like Fatal Frame 4 and plenty of other games.If there's something you want, go on and petition and rage upon the internet if you want to. Whatever facts and figures they go by are by no means rock solid; not by a long shot. This goes doubly true for Nintendo, who has the most pronounced history dragging their feet in leaving the old ways behind.